For the first time since Half-Life: Alyx burrowed its beak through our faces and into our dreams, we may have our first new images of the game. Valve News Network, a fan channel dedicated to sniffing out leaks from the home of Half-Life, has posted a new video that contains what channel creator Tyler McVicker describes as new Half-Life: Alyx screens. The video reveals nine images in total, though we unfortunately have no way of verifying them ourselves.
McVicker says the screens were leaked from an internal source from within Valve, and they show everything from static environmental details to apparent new uniforms for the fascist alien Combine. You'll need to watch the video yourself to see all the images, but here are the three that most quickly grabbed my attention.
This still shows a scene that was featured in the reveal trailer, but it also includes those new uniforms I was talking about. These troops seem to have lighter uniforms with distinct patches on the shoulder. The trailer uses this scene to show off an excellent opportunity for Half-Life: Alyx's VR hand-tracking - that is, raising your hands when a bunch of trigger-happy grunts point their guns at you - but here we can see it hands-free.
This image zooms into a Combine "Infestation Control" sign. It has a strong "Caution, Wet Floors" vibe but with Xen monsters instead of slippery tile. I love the little detail of the silhouetted combine soldier blasting away at a non-specific tentacled beast. Clearly Infestation Control is not doing its job well enough, as you'll be able to tell from the next screen.
Speaking of which, consider this a gore warning before you scroll any further. The last screenshot depicts some very disturbing body horror.
It's really gross.
There's not enough skin or organs or anything.
Ok, fine, here it is.
We've seen zombies minus the Headcrabs before, but we've never seen them in such stomach-churning detail. Observe the layer of subcutaneous fat around the opening of the rib-flared chest-maw. Blugh. This image drives home the fact that, despite the name, Half-Life's zombies aren't undead monsters - they're the living hosts of alien parasites. Still, you're probably doing them a favor by shooting toilets at them until they die.
Again, none of these screenshots are confirmed as legit from Valve, so take all of them and any details they might suggest with a grain of salt. Fortunately, we won't have to wait too long to see Half-Life: Alyx ourselves - it's coming out in March.
Don't have a VR-ready PC? Valve hasn't ruled out a Half-Life: Alyx console version.
